Yearly Archive: 2022

2

Brunswick Corporation Establishes Navico Group

Brunswick Corporation announced today the formation of Navico Group, which will replace its current Advanced Systems Group (ASG). Navico Group will continue to be led by Brett Dibkey and represents a complete organizational integration between the legacy ASG business with two key acquisitions that were completed in late 2021 – Navico and RELiON Battery LLC. The newly formed Navico Group will be comprised of numerous industry leading brands that serve the marine, RV, specialty vehicle, and industrial markets. Some of the many brands that make up Navico Group include: Ancor, Attwood, B&G, BEP, Blue Sea Systems, C-MAP, CZone, Garelick, Lenco, Lowrance, Mastervolt, Marinco, MotorGuide, Progressive Industries, ProMariner, RELiON, Simrad, and Whale…

4

Tank monitoring with Victron GX Tank 140, accuracy matters

Harvey, as I (mostly) affectionately call my RV, like all other RVs, contains waste and gray water. If you’re a boater in the U.S., gray water containment is a largely foreign concept. Let me tell you, it’s also kind of a pain. On Harvey, until now, it’s been a pain. But, it turns out that’s because we were only using a small percentage of the advertised capacity of the gray water tank. Victron’s Venus OS, GX Tank 140, and an inexpensive tank transducer tell the real story of our tank usage.

60

ABYC Ratifies E-13, their first lithium battery standard

The ABYC has ratified standard E-13 covering the installation of lithium batteries on boats. E-13 replaces TE-13, a technical note that provided a preview of the direction the ABYC was headed with the standard. But, not having an approved standard for lithium battery installs presented some challenges. The main one comes from insurance companies not having an approved standard they could reference. Now that we have a standard let’s look at what it means for new installs and those who have already installed lithium batteries.

6

Actisense adds NMEA 2000 insight to W2K-1 with Actisense-i

Actisense’s W2K-1, like Actisense’s other products, is a well-made, straightforward product with a few extra features. The primary focus of the W2K-1 is making data from your NMEA 2000 network available via WiFi to mobile devices and laptop. But now, Actisense has expanded the features of the W2K-1 to include their Actisense-i diagnostics functionality. How does Actisense-i stack up to other NMEA 2000 troubleshooting tools? I’ve spent some time with it and believe it provides useful insight into your network but leaves room for more.

0

SI-TEX Marine Electronics Releases New Polaris Charts

SI-TEX Marine Electronics today announced the official release of new POLARIS Charts, a content- and feature-rich vector cartography platform developed by sister company AvMap Srl exclusively for the company’s popular NavPro Series MFDs. POLARIS Charts covering the entire United States now come bundled with SI-TEX’s NavPro 900C/F and NavPro 1200C/F MFDs at no additional cost, providing powerful, yet affordable navigation, fish finding and radar functionalities for a wide range of boats. These units combine powerful chart plotting, built-in CHIRP sonar, and Wi-Fi radar capability in one convenient and easy-to-use package.

9

A cool and quiet sailboat thanks to efficient air conditioning, LiFePO4 batteries, and Integrel

I work around boats pretty much every day of my life. So, what would cause me to jump in my car and drive 28 hours round trip to go see a boat? The answer: A brand new, luxury 44-foot sailboat ordered with no generator and no air conditioning. But fear not, although it was delivered without systems many regard as required, it’s now been outfitted with arguably the best air conditioning and power systems available.

27

SIONYX Launches Nightwave, Making Night as Clear as Day

SIONYX, a leader in digital color night vision technology, announces the launch of Nightwave, the first-of-its-kind marine camera system. Built around the brand’s proprietary Black Silicon BSI CMOS sensor, Nightwave allows mariners to navigate safely by easily spotting hazards and debris in moonless starlight without additional illumination, maximizing time on the water…

16

Starlink offers new services aimed at RV and marine use

It’s been a busy couple of months for Starlink since they rolled out portability. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happened with the service since then: they’ve rolled out RV service, Dish network has filed a complaint against them, their mobile license was approved by the FCC, and they’ve introduced a maritime service offering. If you’re a boater looking to get internet connectivity on board your boat, that can be a lot to wade through. So, let me help you understand the developments and what it means for us as boaters.